If those other powers come from being exposed to earth's atmosphere, does that mean Superman loses those specific powers while he's in space (flying above the earth's atmosphere)?

That could be an interesting way for him to "get a break" from his super-hearing...

PS: I've seen MOS three times already so far, and it's true, it gets better with each viewing! I've NEVER seen a movie in theaters more than once, so this is quite a new experience for me.

I was going to make this really deep detailed mega-post about something that I've been considering since seeing MoS the first time on the day of release, and I literally had it typed out and then I realized meh, most people won't even read it so, I'm gonna redo it and make it really simple.

It's a belief I have at this point based on this new telling of Superman and it's got a basis in this whole "he's not powered just by the sun anymore, now our atmosphere itself plays into some of his powers directly" and this is backed up by Jor-El's statement that our atmosphere is more nourishing to Kal - it's not just the younger yellow sun's radiation.

So here's the short-short version of that mega-post I worked out and just deleted (and boy was it a doozy):

Kal and the other Kryptonians are not capable of surviving in a vacuum as Superman and other Kryptonians could in pre-MoS tales and canon.

That's it in a nutshell. Why do I say this, where does this come from? It comes from direct evidence provided in MoS that very plainly shows Kal and the other Kryptonians, even when exposed to a yellow sun's radiation, are still dependent on some kind of atmosphere to survive.

Now, having said that, I know what the first reaction will be from most of you (ok, maybe a second or even third reaction): "Ok, wait a second, if that's true then how come we see Kal/Clark underwater after saving those men on the oil rig and he's not drowning, he's under there for a rather long period of time apparently."

And you'd be right to point that out as the first example but, consider this: water is made from two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom - we humans can survive on pure oxygen just as I'm confident that Kal can, and when he's underwater I'd surmise - my belief and conjecture here - that his skin is capable of literally providing him with that sustenance from oxygen in water molecules.

Of course it's speculation and conjecture but, I think it makes sense.

The next situation would be the fact that we see Kal during his "learning to fly" sequence finally getting the hang of it and going ballistic into Earth's upper atmosphere - and yes he's still inside our atmosphere, he doesn't directly fly out of it. How can I say that with any sense of confidence? Because we not only see a sonic boom shock wave "cone" effect but we hear a sonic boom as well, and both of those require air to happen - if he was in space we wouldn't see the "cone" effect nor would we hear it.

Disclaimer: as for the hearing aspect I know, I know, Hollywood loves to screw with the basic rules of the universe and one they almost always break is adding sound effects to events that happen in space - since there's no air or atmosphere, we'd never hear things like a space ship blasting off, laser weapons firing, photon torpedoes launching, planets and moons exploding or imploding, and so on.

The next one is Kal punching a hole in the side of the Black Zero and then all that atmosphere rushing out and people complaining about "He just opened the side of the ship and all the air is running out so how the hell can he and Jor-El's consciousness still talk?" Well, I'd say it's because the atmosphere in the ship just keeps pumping into that small room they're in I suppose. And Jor-El is a projection, not a physical being so he's most likely speaking to Kal telepathically (not confirmed, just a good guesstimate on that one).

Anyway, the next instance would be when Kal once again flies into the upper atmosphere on the way to the World Engine and the final time is when Zod basically flies him into space during their fight (most people say it's Kal flying Zod and it's not - after Zod does that cape hammer throw move and Kal goes crashing through about 9 skyscrapers, when he exits the last one he's stunned and completely upside down (pretty neat visual effect, actually) and then Zod slams into him from underneath (the perspective on the screen is him coming down from the top) and basically body-flies Kal into space. When Kal snaps out of his stunned period, he pushes Zod off him and Zod ends up catching himself on the Wayne Enterprises satellite which he then kicks in Kal's direction and then they head back to Earth for the finale.

They're not up their long enough to matter, in my opinion, and even though this will probably prompt some laughs and giggles, if I had to give my reasoning for it it's this simple:

For those short periods of time that Kal and Zod are in the upper atmosphere where the air is thinner - but still exists to some degree - there's a good chance they simply held their breath on the way up. Seriously, no joke: Kal and Zod with their enhanced Kryptonian physiques now enhanced even further by our younger yellow sun's radiation as well as exposure to our atmosphere means they literally could take a deep breath and hold it and fine for rather extended periods of time considering how much air they'd be able to suck in and compress - think of their lungs working like a S.C.U.B.A. diver's tank and giving them the ability to survive upwards of an hour depending on the situation.

But the last little tidbit is this:

We know that even here in range of our younger yellow sun's radiation that Kryptonians are now obviously implicitly affected by the atmosphere of Earth directly. They get something from the sun, but not everything they require to survive. It's plain to see that in the dream sequence when Zod is telling Kal that he and his crew had spent basically the last 33 years searching out old colonial outposts and scout ships that whenever they were exploring they themselves were wearing suits that allowed them to do that exploration and survive in their Kryptonian "space suits" more or less.

It would be completely illogical and somewhat ludicrous to think that in 33 years of searching out colonial outposts and scout ships - of which thousands were launched according to Jor-El's consciousness when he explains Kryptonian history to Kal -Zod and his crew never happened upon a colonial outpost or crashed scout ship someplace else in the universe and it wasn't under a younger yellow sun like ours. Somewhere in their journeys they had to have been exposed to another yellow sun to some degree - as for whether or not they developed powers from it or even realized they were enhanced by it is up for grabs, but they had to have come across one in 33 years of travels in space.

So, I think that this means we're looking at the potential that Kal can't survive in space for extended periods of time. He can't just go up and flying to Mars under his own power or whatever because he'd never make the journey without something to assist his need to breathe in our atmosphere - he's acclimated to it and requires it as part of that two-piece catalyst to make him what he's become. And no, we won't be seeing Kal flying around inside our sun's troposphere anytime soon for a decade to "charge up" either.

Just my line of thinking, tear it apart if you want, but it makes sense to me on several levels. It's pretty obvious we're not dealing with Superman of old, of legend and 75+ years of canon - as I say, "This ain't your Daddy's Superman" so I fully expect things to be different with Kal in a lot of respects, this could be just one of them overall.

ps
Yes, this is still a long post but the mega-post I worked on was about 5x longer and a lot more detailed babbling.

Something I've seen mentioned in a few threads but I have not delved too deep into till now (since I've finally seen the movie and read the book, don't blame me, I've been injured for 2 weeks). I've seen reference in another thread to Kara. Now there's no Kara in the novel and I didnt see a Kara in the movie, were people interpreting the Kryptonians in the outpost ship as Kara?

It is still a yellow (younger) sun that powers Superman. His cells absorb its energy in a different way than Krypton's red sun. But, as Jor-El says, "his cells will drink in the solar energy". The film also shows this.

The whole atmosphere thing isn't so much about Superman's powers...it's about Superman's survival, period.

He was born on Krypton, but he did not have time to acclimate to their environment. Most of his life was spent getting used to Earth's environment.

As such, as an adult who had never had to acclimate to Krypton's atmosphere, his body was rejecting the sudden change of being in Krypton's atmosphere. He was essentially dying, or very sick as a result. So he couldn't even stand, or breathe, let alone use his powers.

Think about the way the human body reacts under extreme atmospheric differences. Less air, more water, pressure changes, etc.

This is their backdoor to Kryptonite, and I think it was pretty smartly written.

__________________
Writer and Lyricist of GOTHAM'S KNIGHT: THE BATMAN MUSICAL

And if I'm right
The future's looking bright
A symbol in the skies at night

Something I've seen mentioned in a few threads but I have not delved too deep into till now (since I've finally seen the movie and read the book, don't blame me, I've been injured for 2 weeks). I've seen reference in another thread to Kara. Now there's no Kara in the novel and I didnt see a Kara in the movie, were people interpreting the Kryptonians in the outpost ship as Kara?

Since Clark was in the crash-landed scout ship, and he didn't keel over, are we going to assume that the atmospheric controls were damaged? Or maybe Jor-El automatically adjusted the settings when Clark pushed in the key thing. Or something. -grin-

Since Clark was in the crash-landed scout ship, and he didn't keel over, are we going to assume that the atmospheric controls were damaged? Or maybe Jor-El automatically adjusted the settings when Clark pushed in the key thing. Or something. -grin-

The scout ship had been exposed to Earth's atmosphere long ago when it was shown in the prequel comic to have had the doorway opened so that one being (could have been Kara, could have been Dev-Em) was able to leave. Also, in MoS it's pretty obvious that Clark created a pretty large tunnel from outside directly to the scout ship so, there's more atmosphere for ya.

The powers are related to the sun. The differents atmospheres are just "parasites" that neutralize the capability to use them, but they're still there.
Superman on the Black Zero, still has his powers, but he is poisoned, so his weakness keeps him from using them. When Jor-El turns the atmosphere to ours on the ship, Superman is healed and can finally use his reserve.
At this point, Zod and the others kryptonians are powerless because they're not in a direct contact to the sun, probably because the ship is protected of the radiations.
When Zod arrives on Earth, and this time in a direct contact with the sun, he gains powers but like Superman before, he needs his atmosphere to fully use these powers. At the end of his fight at Smallville, without his helmet, he's still powerfull but poisoned and forced to leave.
Both atmospheres are just an acclimatization question, nothing to do with being powered or not. I think.

The powers are related to the sun. The differents atmospheres are just "parasites" that neutralize the capability to use them, but they're still there.
Superman on the Black Zero, still has his powers, but he is poisoned, so his weakness keeps him from using them. When Jor-El turns the atmosphere to ours on the ship, Superman is healed and can finally use his reserve. At this point, Zod and the others kryptonians are powerless because they're not in a direct contact to the sun, probably because the ship is protected of the radiations.
When Zod arrives on Earth, and this time in a direct contact with the sun, he gains powers but like Superman before, he needs his atmosphere to fully use these powers. At the end of his fight at Smallville, without his helmet, he's still powerfull but poisoned and forced to leave.
Both atmospheres are just an acclimatization question, nothing to do with being powered or not. I think.

Did you miss the part where the Kryptonian girl punched the hole in the wall of the escape pod? Her helm was active so she was protected from the "Earth atmosphere" that existed inside the Black Zero and she was inside the ship inside her armor as well but still has the super strength as well as the invulnerability... a lot of people miss that punch and it's a direct throwback/tie-in with a panel in the prequel comic where Dev-Em punches his fist into a wall and is completely surprised when it happens because he doesn't realize his strength is now much greater.

Mmh...
I remember the scene , even if I didn't interpret the punch as a throwback to the prequel comics, this girl seems to be pretty strong, you're right...^^
Maybe I'm wrong about the Black Zero, maybe Kryptonians are already powerfull on the ship because of the sun (or begins to be...). After Jor El's trick, this girl put her helmet to protect herself from our atmosphere and to be able to use (or discover) her powers just like Zod on Earth. This way, my theory about the atmosphere being just a parasite is still good =P

Did you miss the part where the Kryptonian girl punched the hole in the wall of the escape pod? Her helm was active so she was protected from the "Earth atmosphere" that existed inside the Black Zero and she was inside the ship inside her armor as well but still has the super strength as well as the invulnerability... a lot of people miss that punch and it's a direct throwback/tie-in with a panel in the prequel comic where Dev-Em punches his fist into a wall and is completely surprised when it happens because he doesn't realize his strength is now much greater.

HMMMMM
Its really unclear if the strength thats demonstrated above and when they look for Kals pod whether this is due to powers or the suits.
If you watch the movie when they first take Kal and Lois there are no signs of powers (was no need)
BUUUUUT
when they look for Kals pod.. suddenly Faora jumps, lands through the barn and rips open the pod, throws Martha etc
now this could be their powers due to the sun (although they are in suits)
but they show NO surprise, amazement at their strength, no adjusting.. its just handled as fact. as normal (almost like we are missing a scene)
Is it developing powers? or could it be due the suits?

Also on the ship when the escape pod punch happens.. lois has a mini struggle with one AND FIGHTS HER OFF!!!!

The powers are used pretty inconsistently. Clark has extreme super hearing but even when he's sneaking into the spaceship, and he would logically be extremely cautious both of what's in there and about getting caught, he doesn't hear Lois following him until she makes so much noise that a person with bad hearing would notice her. Superman is so much stronger than Zod that he can break his neck, but he apparently can't just move Zod's head. And so on.

You have to tread very carefully with high powered heroes to not make the powers become plot conveniences that only work when the writer wants them to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Guard

People are overthinking this a bit, though it's fun to think about.

It is still a yellow (younger) sun that powers Superman. His cells absorb its energy in a different way than Krypton's red sun. But, as Jor-El says, "his cells will drink in the solar energy". The film also shows this.

The whole atmosphere thing isn't so much about Superman's powers...it's about Superman's survival, period.

He was born on Krypton, but he did not have time to acclimate to their environment. Most of his life was spent getting used to Earth's environment.

As such, as an adult who had never had to acclimate to Krypton's atmosphere, his body was rejecting the sudden change of being in Krypton's atmosphere. He was essentially dying, or very sick as a result. So he couldn't even stand, or breathe, let alone use his powers.

Think about the way the human body reacts under extreme atmospheric differences. Less air, more water, pressure changes, etc.

This is their backdoor to Kryptonite, and I think it was pretty smartly written.

I'd say that we're overthinking it because I don't think it holds up to scrutiny. Jor-El talks about factors why Kal-El is powerful and he mentions that Earth has a lower gravity. That's irrelevant since his abilities very obviously have nothing to do with gravity. He can accelerate in midair and in space. Gravity is also something you acclimate to and lower gravity makes you much weaker, not stronger, except for a short while when you transition (which means that if anything the other Kryptonians would have been stronger).

That the atmosphere is more nourishing is also questionable. It most consist of basically the same things as on Krypton, otherwise it would be toxic, so what in it could actually be nourishing? And a planet of Krypton's advanced level should have no trouble creating such gas to breathe using masks etc. Superman also seemed to have no trouble being in space, but maybe he would if he stayed there if he needs both atmosphere and radiation?

It works better when you don't think too much about it. While I think they could have gotten rid of some of the explanations, or switched them to something more consistent, I don't expect Superheroes to work with physics.

Maybe I'm wrong about the Black Zero, maybe Kryptonians are already powerfull on the ship because of the sun...

Yes. In addition to whatever advantages their armor provides (“Iron Man” type strength?), Zod and co. are gradually accumulating powers thanks to Earth’s yellow star. And those nascent powers don’t just disappear aboard the Black Zero (with its Kryptonian atmosphere). But because he’s no longer acclimatized to it, the Kryptonian atmosphere acts as a poison to Superman (very much like kryptonite). So this explains the asymmetry: Earth is “home field advantage” for Kal-El, Black Zero is “home field advantage” for Zod.

Quote:

...my theory about the atmosphere being just a parasite is still good =P

Earth is “home field advantage” for Kal-El, Black Zero is “home field advantage” for Zod.

THIS. This is a perfect answer to the thread in my opinion. And this is why, at the end of the film, when Zod takes off his helmet, he shows us his impressive capabilities. He can finally tolerate our atmosphere and we know then that the final battle will be very difficult to win for Superman.

Here's my take on the subject. I believe the people of Krypton had super powers at one time. I believe after their sun became older, it lost the ability to give out certain rays that gave them powers. It also change the gas composition in the atmosphere. Which means Krypton's atmosphere is different from that of earth. At the same time, they are educated in science, math, and other forms of knowledge like earths'. They also space travelled. After they lost their powers, they increased their knowledge in science, biology, psychology, and math to compensate so they wouldn't be vulnerable to attacks from other planets. They developed advance technology, computer systems, far beyond earth so it can help in it's efforts. This is why I think they knew how kryptonians would respond to earth's atmosphere. Their battle suits were specially designed to mimic super feats like a kryptonian who absorbed earth's yellow sun without affecting them.
Earth's atmosphere or gases when breathe aids in a Kryptonian power. Alone with the rays from earth's sun. Krypton's gravity is 1,000 times greater than of earth's. Which means Kryptonian bones and muscles need to be 1,000 times denser than a human. Kryptonians have a well-developed psychology beyond humans. They learned how to control their bodies with their minds. Which might explain how Clark is able to fly. It's similar to Chi-power in martial arts. This is why when Zod brought Clark aboard the ship he was affected by the change in the atmosphere. Plus, Zod was able to probe Clark and Lois's minds.
It's earth's gases combined with the sun rays that super-charge a Kryptonian. Clark's body does absorb the sun's energy. Since he can control his own physiology he can shoot fire from his eyes. This is very scientific and grounded in realism.

The powers are used pretty inconsistently. Clark has extreme super hearing but even when he's sneaking into the spaceship, and he would logically be extremely cautious both of what's in there and about getting caught, he doesn't hear Lois following him until she makes so much noise that a person with bad hearing would notice her. Superman is so much stronger than Zod that he can break his neck, but he apparently can't just move Zod's head. And so on.

I saw the scene in this way: Clark saw Jor-el walking and attracting him to the ship. Lois was not making noise that Clark should notice and differentiate to Jor-el's noices. So I didn't see the point here.
Then on Zod's scene, Zod was making him more stronger, it was more dangerous, more focused on his skills umpredictable than Superman, Superman was being cautious and if you notice if he tryied to move his head with that kind of strenght that Zod was putting Supes obviously will harm Zod no matter what. and If you noticed Zod was provoked this scenario like if he wanted this. He was holding his face as Zod was determinate to burn the family then Superman had no choice and thought that this was an endless battle (what about Superman stop him but then Zod punch him or knock him and then he do harm to the family and more people) and the POINT IS NO MATTER WHAT SUPERMAN STOPS ZOD ACTIONS, HE WILL TRY TO DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. and that make him do it. Not that Superman wasn't able to do it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mjölnir

I'd say that we're overthinking it because I don't think it holds up to scrutiny. Jor-El talks about factors why Kal-El is powerful and he mentions that Earth has a lower gravity. That's irrelevant since his abilities very obviously have nothing to do with gravity. He can accelerate in midair and in space. Gravity is also something you acclimate to and lower gravity makes you much weaker, not stronger, except for a short while when you transition (which means that if anything the other Kryptonians would have been stronger).

That the atmosphere is more nourishing is also questionable. It most consist of basically the same things as on Krypton, otherwise it would be toxic, so what in it could actually be nourishing? And a planet of Krypton's advanced level should have no trouble creating such gas to breathe using masks etc. Superman also seemed to have no trouble being in space, but maybe he would if he stayed there if he needs both atmosphere and radiation?

It works better when you don't think too much about it. While I think they could have gotten rid of some of the explanations, or switched them to something more consistent, I don't expect Superheroes to work with physics.

In which part Jor-el told him than he flies due to gravity
Then he told him that the atmosphere is more nourishing its true. The planet Krypton was more hostile from atmosphere and pretty damaged on his natural resources.
They used the mask due to they aren't used to earth's atmosphere and being precautios to an unknown planet pretty logical IMO.
The consequences you see with Faora and Zod's senses. but almost at the end Zod manage it to handle the atmosphere pretty easy.
We don't see Superman breathing on space, there's no air in the space. He is able to take huge amounts of oxygen but this a misunderstanding by some people related to Superman's capabilities in space.

THIS. This is a perfect answer to the thread in my opinion. And this is why, at the end of the film, when Zod takes off his helmet, he shows us his impressive capabilities. He can finally tolerate our atmosphere and we know then that the final battle will be very difficult to win for Superman.

I think that even though Zod started to understand how to use more of his powers, Superman still had the advantage by having had them so long.

As for overall Kryptonian physiology, I don't think much was changed. The sun is still the cause for his powers, & it all pretty much checks out as in the comics save for a few changes made to (as stated earlier) cope with the more realistic nature of the film.

I'd say that we're overthinking it because I don't think it holds up to scrutiny. Jor-El talks about factors why Kal-El is powerful and he mentions that Earth has a lower gravity. That's irrelevant since his abilities very obviously have nothing to do with gravity. He can accelerate in midair and in space. Gravity is also something you acclimate to and lower gravity makes you much weaker, not stronger, except for a short while when you transition (which means that if anything the other Kryptonians would have been stronger).

Actually I think his abilities had a lot to do with gravity. When a person goes to the moon the lower gravity allows them to jump higher and lift more weight. Something too heavy to lift on Earth could feel light on the moon.
Krypton had much, much higher gravity than Earth. Judging by the effects of the world engine, people from Earth would be crushed under their own weight when on Krypton. Their mass would increase to the point where they become structurally unstable and just flatten into the ground, like the cars we saw being destroyed.
Kryptonian bodies are built strong and dense enough to withstand the gravity there, which is the equivalent of supporting multiple tonnes pushing down on you at all times. This accounts for at least part of the reason why Superman is much stronger than humans and why his body is more durable than steel.

This is why Faora and the other Kryptonians had the ability to throw cars and leap hundreds of meters through the air while they were in suits which completely protected them from Earth's atmosphere and the yellow sun. The exposure to the atmosphere and yellow sun is what allows Kryptonians to have heat vision, levitation and enhanced senses (like x- ray vision), and it may enhance their strength and durability too but their Kryptonian bodies are already equipped to support multiple tonnes and jump hundreds of meters just because of the fact that they are adapted to the gravity on Krypton.

I think they made a horrible decision to add the earth's atmosphere as one of Superman's source of his powers. It made it too complicated, and they kind of shot their self in the foot with it. The kryptonian atmosphere took away Superman's powers, but the kryptonians still had their super strength/speed and invulnerability in their suits breathing kryptonian air? And to add even more confusion, when their helmets were damaged their sensory abilities go wild. The only way I could see this making sense is if, like it was said earlier, they got their sensory powers including x-ray vision (not sure where he would've gotten his other, in shown, abilities in this movie concept) from the atmosphere but got their super strength/speed and invulnerability from the sun, and the ship had an unmentioned technology that was blocking the Sun's rays from being used by kryptonians, but the battle suit enabled them to still receive the Sun's rays once out of the ship. The battle suit was just for armor, kryptonian air to breathe and, whether it was intentional or not, the kryptonian atmosphere in the suit protected them from their other powers going wild from shock of being exposed to earth's atmosphere instantly (I think it was unintentional, because when Zod's helmet broke he was panicked from his sensory powers going wild, asking Superman "What did you do to me?"

And, The Slang, if they normally were that strong without the sun and earth's atmosphere, then, when Zod ripped off his suit, he would've slaughtered Superman with the extra help of the sun and atmosphere. Those suits made it where they weren't exposed to earth's atmosphere but the kryptonians still got extra strength/speed and invulnerability from the sun through their suit.

This has been discussed a million times before.
but seriously where does it say that the Earth atmosphere gives him the powers? Yellow sun is radiation is in the atmosphere the power of superman not the earth atmosphere.. Superman has 30 years of absorbing energy and the air wasn't the source of kryptonian powers.. is not about air is about SOLAR RADIATION. they have kryptonian ship where Superman was only other kryptonian.
And let me remember you... IT'S A MOVIE!!!

Actually I think his abilities had a lot to do with gravity. When a person goes to the moon the lower gravity allows them to jump higher and lift more weight. Something too heavy to lift on Earth could feel light on the moon.
Krypton had much, much higher gravity than Earth. Judging by the effects of the world engine, people from Earth would be crushed under their own weight when on Krypton. Their mass would increase to the point where they become structurally unstable and just flatten into the ground, like the cars we saw being destroyed.
Kryptonian bodies are built strong and dense enough to withstand the gravity there, which is the equivalent of supporting multiple tonnes pushing down on you at all times. This accounts for at least part of the reason why Superman is much stronger than humans and why his body is more durable than steel.

This is why Faora and the other Kryptonians had the ability to throw cars and leap hundreds of meters through the air while they were in suits which completely protected them from Earth's atmosphere and the yellow sun. The exposure to the atmosphere and yellow sun is what allows Kryptonians to have heat vision, levitation and enhanced senses (like x- ray vision), and it may enhance their strength and durability too but their Kryptonian bodies are already equipped to support multiple tonnes and jump hundreds of meters just because of the fact that they are adapted to the gravity on Krypton.

It's a great theory but I don't agree with the fact of gravity affecting Kryptonians powers that much, I mean how then can it explain superspeed? I think it has nothing to do with gravity but for their anatomy. IMO it has to be with RADIATION, the helmets prevented to alert his senses not to keep out of their powers cause they won't also be superpowered. That's the reason why they couldn't be hearing noises and shooting red lasers from his eyes on the black zero cause yes it had atmosphere of Earth but not enough solar radiation as on earth, and yet they weren't adapted as Superman is.

I know Superman, aside from in this movie, just gets his powers from the sun radiation, and I wish they would've stayed true to that, but, in the movie, if he didn't get some of his strength from earth's atmosphere, why did he, all the sudden, get his strength back when Jor-El change the atmosphere of the ship to earth's atmosphere?

I know Superman, aside from in this movie, just gets his powers from the sun radiation, and I wish they would've stayed true to that, but, in the movie, if he didn't get some of his strength from earth's atmosphere, why did he, all the sudden, get his strength back when Jor-El change the atmosphere of the ship to earth's atmosphere?

And why where the Kryptonians on the ship, in suits, weak enough that Lois could fight one off, but strong enough to punch a hole in a pod?

And why [were] the Kryptonians on the ship, in suits, weak enough that Lois could fight one off, but strong enough to punch a hole in a pod?

I unfortunatley don't think the powers where actually thought out...

After the Kryptonian punches a hole in the pod, she wrestles for Lois’s gun. Lois manages to fire the weapon at least once - so there’s some urgency in the Kryptonian gaining possession. She does. But in pulling at the gun, she loses her balance and falls backward (assisted, it appears, by a modest kick from Lois). And with the pod doors closing, return fire was too late.

So some quick thinking - and a good amount of luck! - seems to account for Lois’s survival. She didn’t overpower anyone.